BlackBerry sues Snapchat parent Snap

BlackBerry has reportedly filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Snapchat’s parent company Snap in a similar lawsuit to that against Facebook earlier this month for fringement of patents relating to 3G and 4G wireless communications technology. Now, BlackBerry is reportedly going after Snap, accusing it of infringing on six patents.

As per a Bloomberg report, BlackBerry’s complaint against Snap claims the latter infringed upon six patents issued in 2012 and 2014, two of which are among the seven patents that were in the lawsuit against Facebook. In a report, Mashable noted that the patents included map and UI improvement for mobile devices and modern mobile advertising techniques. Interestingly, the map improvement refers to Snapchat’s launch of Snap Map.

A spokesperson for BlackBerry told Mashable in a statement, “BlackBerry has a well-earned reputation for protecting and securing our customers’ data and privacy. For more than a year we have been working to establish a dialogue with Snap as we believe there are far more opportunities for partnership than disagreement. While we continue to hold this door open, we also have a strong claim that Snap infringed on our intellectual property, harmed our shareholders, and we have an obligation to pursue appropriate legal remedies.”

Notably, the lawsuit has been filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California. In the filing, comparisons of illustrations from BlackBerry’s patents and screenshots taken from Snapchat can be seen. There has been no official word from Snap regarding the issue.

Litigation over patent infringement certainly appears to be a part of BlackBerry CEO John Chen’s strategy for making money for the company, which has lost market share in the smartphone market it once dominated.

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